


Speak Now

by TrisPrior111



Category: Actor RPF
Genre: F/M, Wedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-04
Updated: 2015-07-31
Packaged: 2018-02-28 02:15:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2715224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrisPrior111/pseuds/TrisPrior111
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This story takes place the night before Kate’s wedding to Ned Rocknroll, when Leo gives her away. The following fanfiction is what I think should have happened. Inspiration comes from various places, including: Taylor Swift’s song “Speak Now”, Nicholas Sparks’ novel The Notebook, and the film “While You Were Sleeping”.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Everything Has Changed

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I just made this archive account and this is a fanfiction that I wrote like a year ago, but I wanted to post it because there are so few Kate and Leo fanfictions on the internet.

Kate tried, unsuccessfully, to wipe the tears from her eyes, but they continued to flow freely down her cheeks. The realization had hit her hours earlier, but the shock was still fresh in her mind. Leo was the one. He always had been; she just hadn’t realized it until now. The feeling only got stronger as she looked through pictures of them together on her phone. She saw how truly happy she was with him. She had never felt that way with anyone else, and she knew she never would. She had made such awful marriage decisions in the past, and she was scared that she was going to make another if she married Ned the next day. She had to know if Leo felt the same way about her, before it was too late. She scrolled through her contacts until she found his number, and hit send.

“Kate?” 

“Leo, hi,” she said, knowing that her voice betrayed the fact that she had been crying.

“Kate, honey, are you ok?”

“Yes, yes I’m fine. I just- I need to talk to you.”

“Sure; you know where I’m staying, right?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “I do.”

“Do you want to come in a few minutes then?”

“Yeah, I’ll be right there.”

“Ok, bye.”

“Bye.”

She set down her phone and put her face in her hands. What was she doing? What was going to happen? What if he didn’t love her back? What would happen to their friendship? Even if he did, what was she going to do then? 

 

A million thoughts were rushing through her head, but she pushed them all aside and took a deep, shaky breath. She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue and hastily swiped on some makeup before grabbing her coat and hurrying out the door, the December chill of New York enveloping her.

Leo sat uneasily on the edge of a chair in his hotel room, looking out the window and wondering what Kate wanted to talk to him about. He was at the door in seconds when he heard her knocking. Her cheeks were flushed from the cold outside and her eyes were slightly red from crying.

He stepped toward her and pulled her into a hug, holding her tightly. She breathed in his familiar scent of the ocean and wind and relaxed into him.

“Leo, thank God you’re here,” she whispered into his chest.

He closed the door with one hand and rubbed up and down her back with the other.

“What’s wrong, Kate?” he asked.

She pulled away. “I don’t think I can do this.”

“Do what?”

She didn’t meet his eyes. “Marry Ned,” she said softly.

Keeping his arm around her waist, he led her across the room to the couch.

“Do you love him?” he asked as they sat down.

“I don’t know,” she murmured, a tear escaping from her eye.

“What do you mean?” he gently wiped the tear from her face and caressed her cheek with the back of his hand.

“He’s a great friend, Leo. He’s always been good to me. But I honestly think that Ned and I were a matter of the right place at the right time, not true love.”

He tried to look into her eyes, but she kept her gaze trained on the floor. 

“You-you can’t marry someone,” she began, her voice shaking, “when you’re in love with someone else.”

Her eyes met his, and in an instant he realized what she meant.

“Oh, Kate,” he whispered. He slid his hand behind her neck and slowly brought her closer to him until their faces were inches away from each other. He could feel her heart beating hard against his chest. She closed her eyes and leaned into him the rest of the way. Their lips met and tingling electricity spread through her body. The kiss deepened, lasting for what felt like forever before she finally pulled away.

“Leo,” she murmured, lightly tracing the outline of his jaw with her finger. “I can’t believe this is happening. I never thought this would happen to us. I- oh, oh…”

Her voice trailed off as he leaned in and kissed her again. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he pulled her into his lap.

She felt his tongue against hers and knew that there would never be anyone else who could make her feel the way she did now. She found herself slowly slipping away into another world where everything around her disappeared and all she could feel was him.

“Kate,” he whispered.

“Yes?” she opened her eyes slowly and looked up at him.

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” she said softly, and brushed her finger across his lips.

He pulled her even closer and kissed her passionately, his lips moving urgently against hers. She felt herself going deeper and deeper into the world of him. Everything in her mind felt fuzzy and she couldn’t think straight. All she was aware of was the pressure of his lips on hers and the feeling of his hands on her hips. But she heard a voice in the back of her head, saying ever so faintly, to stop. She strained to listen to it, and all at once everything became clear again.

“Leo,” she breathed, tearing herself away from him. “We have to stop.”

“Kate,” he said, blinking as if waking up from a dream. “Baby, please. Can’t we talk-”

She shook her head. “We need to pretend like this didn’t happen. I don’t know what got into me; I’m engaged! I’m getting married tomorrow!” she cried, and started to get up.

Leo grabbed onto her hand. “Kate, I can’t let you go like this. You make me feel like no one ever has before. I don’t want to lose you. Please-”

“No,” she said sharply as she stood up. “I’m so sorry I did this to you. I really don’t know what I was thinking. But this-this can’t work out. We can’t be together. It just doesn’t work that way.”

“Kate, look at me,” he took her hands. With a sigh, she sat down next to him again. “You said it yourself. You aren’t in love with Ned.”

“Leo, please stop,” she begged. “Don’t make this any harder than it has to be. For both of our sakes.”

“I’m supposed to be giving you away tomorrow, Kate. And how can I do that if I know that you’re not truly going to be happy?”

He searched her face for any traces of understanding, but her eyes were distant and her jaw was set. Her mind was made up.

“I will be happy with him,” she said firmly. She appeared to be confident, but Leo knew her well enough to see that she was trying to convince him as much as she was trying to convince herself.

“Are you sure?” he asked quietly.

“Yes,” she replied. “I will be very happy, I promise.”

He didn’t believe her, but he knew there was nothing he could do to change her mind.

“Leo,” she said, looking into his eyes. “Please, please pretend like this didn’t happen tomorrow.”  
All he could manage was a stiff nod.

She kissed him lightly on the cheek. “I’m sorry,” she said as she got up. “It never would have worked out between us.”

And she turned on her heel and walked out the door.

Leo sat there staring at the space on the couch where she had just been, wondering if all that had taken place in the last hour had really happened. Sighing, he sat back. He knew better than to try to call her now. What was done was done.

When Kate got back home, she ran upstairs and threw herself down on the bed, sobbing into the silk sheets. Usually if she felt like this, she would call Leo and hear his comforting voice and everything would be alright again. But she couldn’t do that now. Not when Leo was the reason she was crying.


	2. Speak Now

Kate spent the hours before her wedding standing in front of the mirror in her dress, trying to convince herself to go through with it. She would love Ned. She had to. They would live a wonderful rest of their lives together. But her thoughts kept drifting back to Leo. The way she had felt as she had kissed him was indescribable. What would a life with him be like? No. She had said it herself. Things would never have worked out between them. She focused her thoughts back on Ned. She would marry him. She would love him. She didn’t have a choice.

Leo’s breath caught in his throat when he saw Kate from across the church. He was certain she had never looked more beautiful in all the years he had known her. Her strapless dress had beadwork on the top and flowed gracefully down to the floor. Her blonde, wavy hair cascaded down over her shoulders and her makeup was done so that her bright blue eyes were accentuated. The only thing that was missing was her smile. The one that lit up her whole face and made it impossible to look away from her. Not that he could now, either. 

Their eyes locked momentarily. He was going to have to go to her at some point, so he figured he might as well do it now. He crossed the space between them in five long strides. She tensed as he drew nearer.

“Hello, Leo,” Kate said calmly when he reached her.

“Hello,” he greeted her in return.

She sensed a moment’s hesitation in his actions, but he leaned in and hugged her gently. The kind of hug you would give a friend. Nothing more. But even so, just touching him brought everything she had felt the night before flooding back to her.

When it was time to walk her down the aisle, he placed his arm over hers. Things were painfully awkward between them as they walked. Nothing had ever been awkward for them before, which made it even worse.

By the time they made it to the altar, the tension between them could have been cut with a knife.   
Leo sat down and Kate stood across from Ned. She was smiling, but Leo could easily see that it was forced. He could see how her body was as tense and rigid as a board, and how she was trying not to cry. He couldn’t let her do this.

The priest did the introductions. Leo gripped the edge of the pew so tightly he thought it would break.

“If any man can show just cause, why they may not lawfully be joined together, let him speak now, or else hereafter forever hold his peace.”

He caught Kate’s gaze and held it. Her eyes were brimming with tears. It was now or never. Speak now. Or don’t speak at all.

“I object,” Leo stood up.

Kate turned around fully, and he detected something hidden beneath her features. Relief.

Ned and the priest stood there looking confused. The people in the pews just stared at the three of them, wondering what was going to happen.

“I-I have to object too,” Kate said, her voice wavering.

“Kate, what’s going on?” Ned asked.

“I’m sorry. I can’t do this,” she said to him. “I can’t because-”

“You’re in love with him,” Ned said quietly, looking over at Leo.

“Yes,” she whispered, taking his hands. “Please try to understand, Ned. I didn’t mean for this to happen. 

I never wanted to hurt you. But I can’t… I can’t control how I feel.”

“I understand,” he replied. Her heart ached as she looked into his eyes.

“I want you to be happy, Kate. If you’re happy with Leo, then I want you to be with him,” he continued.

“Thank you,” she said, her eyes filling with tears as she stepped forward and hugged him.

He tilted her head upward with both hands and pressed his lips to hers before letting her go.

“I will always remember you,” Kate whispered. “Always.”

She turned to Leo.

A slow smile spread across her face as he took her hand and led her out of the church.

“Thank you,” she said to him once they were outside, “for saving me from doing something we both knew was the wrong decision.”

“You’re welcome,” he replied softly.

He kissed her tenderly beneath the oak tree outside the church. And he carried her off into the sunset.


End file.
